The present invention relates generally to scientific instrument deployment systems and methods, and more particularly, to systems and methods for deploying multiple probes containing scientific instruments into planetary atmospheres.
A number of unmanned missions have been carried out to Earth's moon and to other planets of our solar system. Most of these have involved a "fly-by" of a planet, or planets while making optical, photographic spectrographic, and magnetic observations, and the like, from the spacecraft. A few missions have shared a spacecraft in orbit around the planet. The Viking spacecraft was placed into orbit around Mars and then deployed a single probe to the surface. The Galileo spacecraft is planned to deploy a single probe and then be placed into orbit around Jupiter. However, no spacecraft has has heretofore been used to deploy a plurality of scientific packages (probes) to a plurality of selected locations on a planet's surface, and also served as an orbiting communication relay for the scientific probes.
Therefore, it is an objective of the present invention to provides for probe deployment systems and methods that employ a reliable spacecraft system to deploy multiple probes, specifically on deep space missions. It is a further objective of the present invention to provide for systems and methods for deploying a plurality of probes to a plurality of selected locations on a planet's surface, and provide an orbiting communication relay system for the deployed probes.